Construction Complete

This week I completed the physical support/ structure of my thesis project, at least mostly. This past week I cut the rest of the wood and screwed it all together. I used a scroll jigsaw to cut a hole into the side that I will make into a hinged door so I can have access to the TV even when the front panel is attached. This was a learning experience that had me going to the local hardware store to pick up another sawblade after snapping the first one, but then learning from my mistakes I got the hang of it and it was pretty easy. I was really stressed out these last two weeks... literal blood, sweat, and tears... but I am really happy to be moving on and am in much higher spirits now that this is accomplished.

The next morning I noticed that the nails that held the original cabinet together were popping out of the sides near where it connected to the bottom so I needed to add more supports in the bottom that will be hidden by the sliding cabinet doors. I also picked up paint, primer, and painting supplies this week and then painted the inside of the cabinet Limousine black.

I also got a sample piece of the plexi and conducted some paint and scratch tests on it. Unlike with the glass regular paint is NOT able to be scratched off of the surface, I tried with both a wooden "coin" and metal coin, only the one with more dish soap mixed with the paint would come off, it was not nearly as soft an oily as it was on glass however. The metal coin also scratched the plexi while the wood did not, even though it did require a little more effort I think it is definitely the way to go.

The next step is to order the plexi glass, pull it away from the wall so I can just pop a few more screws to really anchor it to the back and then install the TV mount and then the TV itself, and then mount the plexi to the 2x4 brace with screws. This will make it a lot easier for me to take it off/put it on for moving it. I then can start painting it! I am thinking of saving the finishing up the cabinet towards the ends, maybe sanding, then painting it with primer and the white paint I got this week. This is just in case I get paint on it, bang it up a little, also they are tasks I can get an extra hand with IF need be. Waiting till it's a bit warmer out will also be nice since I need to have the door wide open for ventilation with the primer. When we go to move it I do need to screw in some boards into the back to act as back "feet" to stop it from leaning backwards.

This week I also met with a person from Becker's CLC to go over my thesis paper. I got a lot of helpful advice to help polish it up a bit more. Most of all she made me really happy because at the end of it all she told me she really wanted to get the chance to see the piece. This meant so much to me, I was so happy and surprised that she was genuinely interested in the piece itself without having any attachment or care towards me myself. It just made me feel a lot more confident in it, knowing that even strangers can be excited / interested in my work.